Thank You, Atlanta: Derek Lowe Serves as Veteran Anchor on a Young Staff
May 11, 2012Report: Browns get DL Billy Winn’s contract done; Andrew Sweat not at camp
May 11, 2012I was reading an excellent piece by Jeff Passan about the Boston Red Sox and the controversy surrounding Josh Beckett this morning. Beckett, who has a $17 million figure attached to his name is knee deep in it again. And no, I’m not referring to money. A year after the Red Sox imploded and got their manager fired amidst clubhouse dalliances with beer and fried chicken, the face of the dysfunction isn’t much better. Beckett got shelled by our beloved Tribe last night, but I missed it. I was putting my son to bed and it was a pleasant surprise when I finally got to turn the TV on to see that the Indians were pounding the Red Sox 7-1. Beckett most recently missed a start and then played golf on his off day, which he was forced to address after lasting fewer than three innings. This morning after reading about the dysfunctional backdrop that the Indians exploited last night it left me thankful.
The Indians aren’t without their own problems. The Indians have been suffering through the contractual dollars committed to players like Travis Hafner and Grady Sizemore for years as the duo has struggled to stay on the field. The Indians had an entire off-season with the mission to get a right-handed bat. They re-signed Grady Sizemore and added Casey Kotchman who are both lefties. In addition they picked up the option on Roberto Hernandez and found out that he wasn’t allowed to work here under the fake name Fausto Carmona. Even those problems in a constrained situation like the Cleveland Indians business environs seems mild by comparison to what is happening in Boston.
It is true that the Red Sox have a lot of money, but they have just north of $30 million on the disabled list right now between Jacoby Ellsbury, Daisuke Matsuzaka and Kevin Youkilis. Add in Carl Crawford who hopes to be back playing before the All-Star break and you’ve got $50 million. 36-year-old David Ortiz approaches $15 million on the ledger and is seemingly back on track after a couple years of hiatus in mediocrity. These aren’t the real problems though.
This group of Red Sox seem to have a poisoned culture. Terry Francona was shown the door after last season’s collapse and controversy. The Red Sox decided to bring in a guy that many Indians fans wanted instead of Manny Acta when they hired Bobby Valentine. So far, his stewardship has failed to change the direction from anywhere but down.
It is difficult to feel sorry for the Red Sox with all the money spent. The only thing worse than struggling to compete with seemingly limited funds is struggling with seemingly unlimited funds. At the same time, I remember living in Boston before any of the success hit the Red Sox. This would be the time of year where people would be calling into sports radio station WEEI to scream that the Sox were already ruining their “summah.”
Meanwhile as we feared the worst for the Tribe all winter long, the summer is looking like it will have some meaning for Tribe fans. As attendance has become such a hot topic for the Tribe, it is instructive. The Indians never win the off-season. The Browns do so in the draft. Same with the Cavs. There is no immediate benefit from the draft in baseball. Free agency is for the rich. The Indians end up with names like Casey Kotchman. Even if the strategy is sound it isn’t the kind of marketing message that anyone is clamoring to throw on a billboard or brochure.
Make no mistake though. I wouldn’t trade the Indians’ situation for the Red Sox’ right now. If we were playing video games I’d gladly have all those expensive pieces on my virtual roster. Unfortunately for Red Sox fans, there is nothing virtual about this Red Sox team right now. This is the real thing and that reality is that this team isn’t performing, has no chemistry, and is showing no signs that it has the personality to figure things out.
Maybe the fans should do what Josh Beckett did and just take up golf.
AP Photo/Michael Dwyer
18 Comments
you’re missing Lackey, Denks, and Bailey who are all on the DL for Boston as well 🙂
re-posting here since it fits better:
Boston DL includes:
Crawford ($20.4mil) + Lackey ($16mil) + Youk($12.3mil) + Matsuzaka($10.3mil) + Ellsbury ($8mil) + Jenks ($6mil) + Bailey ($4mil)
That is $77mil worth of players.
Indians payroll is $65mil (total including $2.5mil hold for Roberto Hernandez)
of course, Boston still has over $100mil payroll without those players (barely).
As a Cleveland guy living in Boston, it is immensely, undeniably satisfying to watch the Sox current situation, especially compared to the Indians. Heck, I became a mild fan of the Rays and Orioles a few years ago just to root against Boston and NY more consistently.
I’m going to the game here tonight, and only wish I were in Cleveland more to go to games there. Someone (maybe someone on WFNY?) wrote that this team actually feels a lot like the cast of Major Leauge — how can you not go out to the ballpark and support a team like that?
Pretty crazy.
One small note though, Tribe isnt currently paying Hernandez anything. You dont get paid on the restricted list.
yes, the “hold” is there for an expected salary owed if/when he comes off the restricted list. it’s what Cot’s is currently using as a guess for now.
Fair enough. I may be wrong but pretty sure when (or if) he comes back he doesnt get the full $2.5M. Instead will get a pro-rated pay based on time missed.
correct but it was a $7mil option we exercised
True, but the option was replaced by the new $2.5M deal.
Be careful too cause that $65M figure Cots lists doesnt appear to include Damon (at least when i click on that excel sheet of theirs i dont see it). Only $1.25m or whatever so really doesnt change much. Your point still stands 🙂
ugh. forgot we restructured that deal. thanks (it does have $2.7 in incentives to factor in too….and Grady has a bunch of incentives along with others not listed in the Cot’s number).
just a baseline I guess, but even with all of that, it still seems likely to stay below the $77mil threshold for that DL list 🙂
Ha yeah agree with thay last part. Think we could make a move to go over $70M this summer via trade but not $77M.
games with team were one of the ones reported for Mr. Roberto.
and I agree on the incentives being hard to reach at this point, but wonder who else has non-reported clauses in theirs.
I loathe big name free agency signings in just about every scenario across all three major sports. They never seem to pay off. I love this Indians team. People call them “no-names”, but I know their names and that’s all that matters to me. I am very disappointed in attendance though. It’s hard for me to judge because I usually only make it to two Indians games a year, sometimes three or four. Living in Columbus I feel like I have an excuse though. Hopefully the Tribe keeps winning and attendance goes up.
The weather has sucked besides attendance was worse a year ago and in the end the Indians drew more fans then they expected. Winning cures all if they keep it up people will attend. If both happen I wanna see a reward in the form of a trade for a player though, a decent player, not necessarily a star but not another Kevin Seitzer either. It’s only fair!
Kotchman has $1M in incentives. Not sure if its based off playing time or performance but not sure i would be worried on that either way with how he has hit overall.
Damon also has a lil over $1M in incentives though if he opts out wint be an issue either.
They are the only other ones with incentives as far as i have heard
attendance was not worse a year ago.
Your like the ex-wife I never had! I shouldn’t have listened to Jim Ingram on MS&LL last night.
I whole-heartedly agree with everything you just said. I’m in the same boat as you – was at the game last night and it was just so awesome to see us tear Beckett apart and experience just how intensely he was boo’d off the field. But it was bittersweet because it might be the only time i get to see the Tribe in person this year… 🙁
haha. well, i don’t know who that is but if it’s sport-talk radio, then I would always fact check (because 99% of them don’t)